The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-12-23
WHOLESOME RECREATION
DISCOURSE BY Or. TALMAeE IN THE
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
The Gymnasium rs . Means of Rscuper-
ating Mental and Physical Energies.
Music source of mimitabis Rscrea-
ton and Amusement.

bROOkLYN, Dec. l6.-At the taoSrDacle
this morning the whole congregation sang
/ the hymn beginning:
The hill Of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavsosy 'yslls
orwalk the golden stres
The Rev. r De Witt Tai,nase, D. D.,
preached on Recreations, Good and Bad, .
taking two texts: Corinthians, vii, 81:
''They that use this world, as not abusing
it," and Judges xvi, Is: "Anli it came to
| pass, when their hearts were merry, that
they said: Gail for Samson, that he may
make us sport And they called for Samson
oct Of the prison house; and he made them
sport Dr. Talmage said:
We are entering the gayest season of the
| year The winter opens before US the gates
| of thousand amusements, some of them
| good and some bad One of my texts will
show you that amusements may be destTuct-
| i've, my other text will show you that amuse-
| ments may be under the Divine blessing and
| direction.
| There were three thousand people assem-
bled in the templeo Dagon. They had come
| TO make sport of eyeless Samson They were
all ready for the entertainment They began
70 clap and round, impatient for the amuse-
ment to beSi4, and they cried; 'iFetch him
out! Fetch lm outl' Yonder see the blind
| giant coming, he'd by the hand Of child into
the very laidst of the temple. At his first APP
pearance there goes up a shout of laughter
ami derision. The blind old giant pretends
| he is tired and wants to rest himself against
the pillars of the house; so he says to the lad
who leads him: "Show me where the main
| pillars are The lad does so. Then the
strong man puts his right hand on one pillar
and his left hand ON another pillar, and, with
the mightiest push that mortal ever made,
| throws himself forward until the whole
house comes down in thunderous crash,
! grinding the audience like grapes in a wine
press. "And so it came to pass, when their
hearts were merry, that they said: Cali for
Samson, that he may make US sport. And
| they called for Samson out Of the prison
house; and he made them sport
In other words, there are amusements that
are destructive, and bring down disaster and
death upon the heads Of those who practice
them. While they laugh and cheer, they die.
The three thousand who persisted that day in
GAIA are as nothing compared with the tens
OF thousands who have been destroyed by
sinful amusements.
but the other text have read implies that
there is lawful use Of the world. as well as
an unlawful abuse of it: and the difference
between the man Christian and the man un-
Christian is that in the former case the man
masters the world, while in the latter case the
world masters him. For whom did God
make this grand and beautiful worldl For
whom this wonderful expenditure Of color,
this gracefulness Of line, this mosaic of the
ground, this fresco of the sky, this glowing
frutage of orchard and vineyard, this full
orchestra of the tempest, in which the tree
branches flute and the winds trumpet and the
the thunders drum and all the splendors of
earth and sky come clashing their cymbaIsi
For whom did God spring the arched bridge
OF colors resting upon buttresses of broken
storm clouds For whom did he gather the
upholstery of fire around the window of the
setting sum- For all men, but more especially
for his own dear chiIdren.
lfyou build large mansion and spread
great feast after it to celebrate the compile
ton OF the structure, do you allow strangers
70 come in and occupy the place, while you
thrust your own children in the kitchen or
the barn or the fieldsl Oh, no. You say, 81
am very glad to see strangers in my man
sion, hnt my own sons and daughters shall
have the first right there.n Now, God has
built this grand mansion of world. and he
has spread glorious feast in it; and while
those who are strangers to bis grace may
come in, think that God specially intends to
give tn advantage to his own children,
those who are the sous and the daughters of
the Lord Almighty, those who through
grace ran look up and say, HAbba, Father
You canPot make me believe that God gives
more advantages to the world than he
gives to the church bought by his own
blood. If, therefore, people of the
world have looked with dolorous sympa-
thy upon those who make profession Of
religion, and have said, "Those new converts
are going down into privation and into hard
ship. Why did not they tarry little longer
In the world, and have some of its enjoy
ments and amusements and reereationsT' I
say to such men of the world, you are
greatly mistaken" and before get through I
viii show that those people who stay out of
the kingdom Of God have the hardships and
self denials, while those who come in have
the joys and the satisfactions.
This morning, in the name Of the King of
heaven and earth, serve writ of eject
ment upon all the sinful and polluted who
have squatted ON the domain of earthly
pleasure as though it belonged to them, while
claim, in behalf Of the good and the pure
and the true, the eternal inheritance which
God has given them.
Hitherto, Christian philanthropists, cleri-
cal and lay, have busted themselves chiefly In
deno'mcing sinful recreations; but feel we
have no right to stand before men and women
| in whose hearts there Is desire for recrea-
tion amounting to positive necessity, de-
nouncing this and that and the other thing
when we do not propose to give them some
thing better. God helping me this morning,
and with reference to my last account, I shall
enter upon sphere not usual in sermoniz-
| ing, but subject which think ought to be
presented at this time Propose now to lay
before you some of the recreations which ara
not only innocent, but positively helpful and
advantageous.
In the first place, commend, among In
door recreations, music, vocal and instru-
mental. Among the first things created was
/ the bird, 50 that the earth might have music
at the start. This world, which began with
| % sweet a serenade, Is finally to be demol-
ished amidst the ringing blast of the arch
angels trumpet, 30 that as there was music
at the start, there shall be music at the Close.
| While this heavenly art has often been
dragged into the uses Of superstition and dis
] sipation, we a know IL may be tbs means Of
high moral culture. Oh, it is grand thing
to have our children brought up amidst the
sound Of cultured voices and amidst the
melody Of musical instruments. There is In
this art an understandable fascination for the
household Let all those families who have